The Cartographer
by Renzin
Summary: Lucas is convinced his sister's a witch. She randomly paints a map on their wall, and now it suddenly turns into a gateway to a world thats supposed to only exist on a video game. The mature thing to do would be to scrub it off and tell Dad. Instead, Lucas and Meg decide to have an adventure on the other side.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Elder Scrolls, only my artwork, OCs and this story :D**

 **Ok, so I couldn't help myself. I know I've got a gazillion things I need to do right now, but this idea's been digging at my brain for like half a year. First of all, while this is a world travelling fic, it isn't SI persay. If you like long stories with adventure, angst, a touch of romance (later on) and sibling bitching, then this is for you ^_^**

"blahblah" - **English**

" _blahblah" -_ **Russian**

 **Chapter 1**

Lucas stretched his arms above his head, revelling in the warm stretch that came as he deepened his plié. The air was breezy, tickling the grass around his bare feet. He may be alone in his opinion, but mornings were his favourite time of day. Something about the blue skies bleeding into the sunrise appealed to him. As one would expect at four o'clock in the morning, the neighbourhood was mostly deserted but for the awakening birds and the early risers that were rushing to work.

One such workaholic was a good looking medical student who had to commute into the city everyday. Lucas, while he probably could do his dance stretches in his living room just as well, enjoyed his audience too much to not do them outside in his garden. The medical student's bedroom was high enough to peer into the nearby gardens including his, and she wasn't very good at being discrete when it came to ogling Lucas' body. Not that he minded.

By the time he finished his backbends, his neighbour had managed to drag herself out of the house. Lucas pouted slightly, but quickly finished his routine before heading out for his morning jog. As he ran, the cold air bit into his bare arms and legs. There was a regularity to the morning that was comforting, like the steady beat of music. He always passed the family with three dogs before the traffic lights, then had to dodge the Jag that always zoomed into the law firm by the roundabout. After 20 minutes, Lucas would reach the park, and pause for a moment to take in the sloping hills, swarms of pigeons and the sprinkled about cyclists and runners. He'd bounce on the spot for a second and then shoot onwards.

It was after 5 when he returned home. He kept his house key around a long chain around his neck, as the only other key he ever used was his locker and car keys that were stuffed in his wallet. Slapping his trainers against the brickwork to dislodge the mud, he padded in bare feet to place them on the shoe rack in the laundry room. Lucas jumped up the stairs three at a time, stripped in the bathroom and engaged himself in a steaming shower that turned his pale skin red and his hair dark. After meticulously shaving and rubbing in some moisturiser, he wrapped a white towel around his lower half and strolled into the room he shared with his twin sister.

Their room was large and spacious; when they were younger, an extension had been added to the house and the wall separating their room and the guest room had been broken down for more space. On either side of the door were identical red oak wardrobes with antique carvings and on the opposite wall two matching beds stood side by side with a radiator in between. The left wall had a vanity, a large cork board hammered into the wall filled with pinned up papers and photos and both of the siblings' desks. Lucas' held his laptop, a stack of assignments that he had finished and a model figurine of Deadpool with a rifle in one hand and the zombiefied head of Abraham Lincoln in the other. The end of the rifle served as a spike for him to hang his collection of receipts off of. His sister's desk was filled with piles of books, as she had a habit of reading several things at once. Her computer was baring a playlist of random songs off of youtube, and there was a half filled glass of water next to her mouse mat.

Lucas picked out a loose pair of trackies and a tank from the wardrobe, then striped off the towel and dressed himself. His sister, Meg didn't even bother chastising him for his lack of decency; she had become bored of that argument several years ago. After placing the towel on the radiator, Lucas crossed his legs and sat on the floor and watched his sister for a moment. The entire wall opposite where their desks were usual had Meg's work bench for her projects and a couple of beanies for they TV and game consoles, but they had all been stacked away so that the entire wall was bare. Unlike the other white walls, this one gleamed golden with the black outlines of a map. Meg had always been obsessed with maps and anatomy drawings ever since they were kids. Lucas thought that she would make a great architect because she was so detailed with her art, but she was set on studying ancient history, and was even teaching herself Latin and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Meg had finally convinced their Dad to let her redecorate, and had jumped right in. Lucas helped her out painting the base gold colour while she painted the map. Each wall was going to have a different map from one of their favourite stories or games. The one with the door would be of Middle Earth, the wall with their beds of the Naruto universe, the wall with the wardrobes of Narnia (purposefully chosen of course) and the wall that Meg was painting now of Skyrim. The ceiling was undecided, but they had both agreed on some sort of starry space design.

Lucas hadn't really played much Skyrim; they had both agreed on a mutual map (LOTR) that they had both adored as children, then a favourite each. For Lucas it was Narnia, and Meg chose Skyrim. While he had played a little when they first bought the game, he soon decided that he preferred games that he could play as a group with friends or online. Meg however had become obsessed. She hadn't even finished the main quests because she kept getting side tracked with the guilds and achievements even though she had played it for over a year.

Lucas smiled at how awesome their room was going to look. "Look's great."

"Thank you!" Meg sang back, excited and with a splattering of paint on her nose. "I've finished the outlines and naming all the locations, now I just need to add the colour. Do you think I should make the sea fainter?"

He chewed his lip in contemplation. "How about fading it out into the background? Make it look old and crumbly or something."

Meg brightened at the idea. "That'll be cool, like a treasure map. Can you sort out breakfast? I don't think Dad's eaten either."

"You want toast or pancakes?"

"Whatever's easiest."

Lucas rolled to his feet and jumped down to the landing on the stairs in one go, then again to the ground floor with two loud thumps against the carpet. When he entered the kitchen, he was surprised to find his Dad already dressed for work, with his badge hanging around his neck. Both Meg and Lucas had inherited their curly brown hair from their father, though his eyes were dark. While Meg's hair was thick and hung to her hips, Lucas and Alexey both wore theirs cropped close to the skull.

" _Morning Lucas."_ Alexey greeted. " _Pancakes are in the oven."_

 _"Thanks. Are you going in early today?"_ Lucas asked as he began to stack pancakes onto two plates and smother them in fruits and syrup.

Alexey took a moment to swallow before answering. _"I'm covering Jackson, he's still on desk duty. Look after your sister while I'm gone, alright? Just because you're on summer break, I don't want you to waste your time."_

Lucas rolled his eyes, switching back to english. "Yeah, yeah, I remember. I've got rehearsals by the way tomorrow." He growled as his father ruffled the nest of curls on the top of his head before ducking away and heading back upstairs.

Alexey Dorokhin was a 35 year old detective for the Police force, on his way to becoming a sergeant. He was a Russian man who had moved to Boston when he was 13 with his family. As a teenager, he was the high school punk who everybody was certain would end up with a life sentence. But then he met another transfer from Britain, Linda Bishop who he got pregnant when they were 17. Linda, having come from a strict religious family was kicked out and moved into the Dorokhin household after deciding to keep the child. Luckily for her, apart from the fury of Alexey's parents, they were happy to have her and doted on her like a daughter. When Alexey realised that he was not having one child but _twins,_ something changed in him. He worked hard and passed school, then enrolled in the Police Academy after working at a retail store. Despite everything, Linda was a hard worker and went onto study to be a linguist, and went on to be hired by several firms. Despite their rocky pasts, both loved each other enough to be the heroes of a mushy love story.

At the moment, Lucas and Meg's mother was working in D.C for one of the embassies, but would be home within the week. As both their parents worked at different times, the family cherished their time at home, and the twins were fairly self sufficient and independent. Their grandparents from their father's side lived nearby and visited often, but none of the Dorokhins had made contact with the Bishops after Linda left.

The day carried on in a lazy manner, with Lucas finishing off the last of his work and reading while Meg painted without pause. Alexey returned late as usual nearing midnight, and after finding both kids still awake, berated them and turned off the lights and wifi. From experience, Lucas knew that it would be tough to sneak into their father's office and turn it back on.

Merely an hour later, Lucas woke up again to find Meg staring at the map of Skyrim with pride on her face. Lucas groaned as the lamp she had on stung his eyes. "Meg, is this really necessary?" He should have known that his sister would keep going in the dead of night.

"I've finished it! Finally, I can sleep in peace!" She gushed ecstatically.

Lucas snorted. "It's awesome, really, but can you go to bed now? Dad will notice when you're chugging coffee tomorrow."

Meg huffed. "Honestly, you don't deserve to have such an amazing sister."

"Whatever you say Da Vinci. If we choke 'cause the room stinks of paint and spirits, I'm gonna haunt you for eternity."

"Ooooh, such big talk from the guy who has to rescrew his tap shoes in the dark before a show and wake me up."

"Pay back." Lucas grinned toothily. "I have to check they're perfect for dancing in, you know that." He closed his eyes and fell back onto the pillow as his sister muttered about screws being loose in his head. He tried to focus his mind on what he had been dreaming about - a particular favourite where he beat the chief of the martial arts club he went to with his sister (their parents had refuse to let them travel alone without knowing self defence, especially for Meg). He was just beginning to visualise his dream self with dramatic blood trickling from his lip as he dodged a flying kick when the room started to shake.

A moment later Lucas blinked groggily to find that the only earthquake was that of his sister shaking his shoulders. "Meg, what the _h-"_

 _"Lucas Lucas Lucas!"_ Meg wailed in Russian. " _The map!"_

Disbelief folded with irritation. " _You already showed me! I'll admire it again in the morning, now would you-"_

" _I know, just listen to me and LOOK!"_ Meg snapped. She pulled on his shoulders so that he was upright. With a snarl Lucas made to push he away with a scathing retort when his eyes actually turned to the map, or rather, what he expected for a painted map. Lucas felt his jaw fall slack. He blinked, and stumbled out of bed as his sister moved next to him.

What had once been an inanimate painting was now a swirling concoction of colours, dancing across the wall like a movie. The land of Skyrim flapped against the sea it sat in like a flag caught in the breeze, and the small images that signified each landmark and town were moving as well; some had hisses of steam floating from crevices, others like the Mages guild in Winterhold were bubbling with random sparks of colour like an erupting spell. The border meg had painted around the edges of the wall had depicted dozens of unique dragons clawing over each other. Now they hissed and snapped like coils of snakes, several in the corners breaking free to fly over the rest of the map.

" _You see it, right?"_ Meg whispered, shaking with joy. After, this was her artwork that had quite literally come alive (even though she had no idea how that happened).

Lucas exhaled sharply with awe. " _Yeah, I see it alright. Shit...What did you...how?"_

Meg laughed breathlessly. " _Not a clue. I was just so excited, so I got out of bed to check it out again, and this is what I found."_

 _"This...is incredible! God, I know you're talented Meg, but this is insane."_ Lucas raised a hand that shook slightly, letting it hover over Helgen. " _It's warm! Meg, move closer!"_

Meg did so and gasped. " _I can hear the city, like there's a thousand people talking all at once."_ She reached out a hand towards a floating dragon nearby. Lucas was about to pull her back when he thought she was going to get bitten (it wasn't that big a step from what had already happened) when the winged reptile twirled around her fingers, peeling itself out of the wall until there was a harsh sigh like compressed steam out of a train. A purple glow fluttered inside the dragon, and expanded. The twins watched with shock as the dragon expanded to become three dimensional.

Lucas gaped. " _Did...that just happen?"_

He watched the moss coloured dragon huff out a little smoke and shake its head, then start to haul itself up Meg's sleeve with its curled claws. She winced at the pinprick sensation, but ignored it in favour of tentatively running a finger along its skull. It was the size of her hand span, with devilish orange eyes that watched Meg intently even as it rumbled out a purr at her ministrations. Lucas didn't dare breath. He shuffled forward, making sure the miniature dragon could see him approach. It watched him and sniffed his finger for a moment, before allowing him to stroke his spine as well.

 _"We're petting a dragon."_ Meg whispered in awe.

 _"We're petting a dragon that you_ drew!" Lucas corrected reverentially. " _Holy fuck, do you think this guy actually came from_ the _Skyrim?"_

Meg furrowed her brow. _"Maybe. If that were true, have I just pulled him out of another world?"_

Lucas grinned. " _I think so little sis."_

 _"Oh no...what's that look for?"_

Lucas didn't answer he. He wanted to try this out. Instead, he gently unhooked the dragon from her shoulder and took it back to the map, coaxing it for a few moments to climb in and with a flash of light, become 2D again. " _Oh stop pouting, you can play with him later."_ Lucas chided at the sight of Meg's face. He surveyed the map, breathed deeply and pressed his finger against the icon of Markarth. For a moment, everything was still. He exhaled with disappointment and turned back to Meg when a shudder threw him towards her. Meg caught him and stubbled back again. Holding onto each other, the siblings gripped each other tightly as sucking and pushing sensations alternated and threatened to bring them to their knees. The map seemed to collapse on itself like crackling parchment, then fade into old grey rock as all that was left was the border of dragons that still leered at them. Inside the border, the wall had hollowed out into a dark tunnel with an unseen end.

" _Is this...a cave?"_ Meg said.

Lucas laughed, the sound out of place as a hue of magic swirled around them. "This is crazy. This shit never happens in the suburbs."

Meg rolled her eyes. Lucas always switched to english when his mood changed for some reason, so she just followed along. "A legion of movies like Transformers would beg to disagree."

"So you're saying we're going to become awesome heroes to save Skyrim."

"Of course, ballet boy and angsty artist to the rescue."

"Awww, did you strain yourself think those up so quickly?"

"Lucas wait!" Meg grabbed onto his arm before he could take another step into the damp cave. "We have no idea where this goes! What if it closes and we never make it back?!"

"What if we're hallucinating all of this? Relax Meg. There are so many 'what ifs' that could be applied. Are you really saying that you're not at all curious?"

"Of course I am! But think about Mum and Dad? What will they think if we just suddenly disappear?!" She huffed, crossing her arms.

Lucas rubbed his chin. "I know I sound like a brat saying this, but at the moment, I care more about finding out what's on the other side."

"Well how do you plan on getting back?" Meg dared.

" _We_ are going to take a peak for now, and only go so far as to find the end of the cave, alright? Put something warm on."

Meg scowled but went to their wardrobes and took out their thickest winter coats. Lucas's was a dark bottle green with a military tail and lapels, while Meg's was black with a warm fluffy lining inside, and their trainers. Meanwhile, Lucas ducked his head under his bed and pulled out his black baseball bat and the slightly more battered rounders bat he used to train with when he was too small for a full sized bat. He handed the smaller one to Meg and fastened his coat tightly around him, then shoved his feet into his trainers. Finally, Lucas took the alarm clock by his bed and analysed it. "Ok, so it's 2:50am now. Start the timer on your watch as soon as we walk into the cave. Then when we get back we can see if there's a time difference."

"I don't think time's going to behave itself if _magic_ is involved." Meg retorted, but was ignored. Lucas instead took a deep breath and threw his hand palm first into the cave. He laughed breathlessly as he wiggled it around, feeling that the air felt lighter and thinner. "Hold onto me Meg." He ordered. Once he felt her firm grasp on his other arm, Lucas lead them further into the cave.


End file.
